Temple Athletics has officially opted into the House v. NCAA settlement, an agreement that will allow the university to offer financial benefits directly to its student athletes beginning in the 2025-26 academic year, the department announced in an email Friday evening.
The settlement is scheduled for final approval on April 7, and schools had a deadline of March 1 to opt in.
“This decision reflects the university’s commitment to athletics and our student athletes,” wrote Athletic Director Arthur Johnson in a press release. “The ability to share a pool of benefits directly with them not only enhances their experience while at Temple but also sets our department up for success in the future.”
The settlement also requires all Name, Image and Likeness deals not established through the university and valued at more than $600 to be reported to a third-party clearinghouse to ensure it complies with market value standards.
“The landscape of intercollegiate athletics has evolved at a rapid pace but one thing that has not changed is Temple University’s continued commitment to supporting our student athletes,” wrote President John Fry in the release. “Our goal will always be to field an athletic program that puts our student athletes first, and that consistently fields teams that compete for conference championships.”
The settlement requires that all Division I schools, even those that ultimately choose not to opt in to the student athlete compensation portion of the agreement, pay into a $2.8 billion settlement across the next 10 years to compensate current and former college athletes for the use of their name, image and likeness.
Athletic programs in the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big 10, Big 12 and Southeastern Conference are required to opt into the agreement, while teams in all other NCAA conferences are allowed to make their own decision.
The settlement will likely alter the entire landscape of college athletics — from recruitment to retention and the transfer portal. Temple has fallen significantly behind its peers in the NIL space since its legalization in July 2021.
At an NIL educational event in November 2024, Johnson admitted to attendees that he did not do enough when it first became legal in 2021.
“We gotta do better,” Johnson said. “I’ll admit and I said to people, I didn’t do enough on the front end to really push because of all of the uncertainty, the uncertainty with where the rules were, how it was going to work, the lawsuits have just continued to come. While it hasn’t gone like we wanted to go, [TUFF Fund director Andy Carl] has done a great job finding our niche and we still need that support.”
Be the first to comment